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Africa's tech hub explosion

Africa's tech hub explosion

What impact has it had on the continent's tech startup scene? Tamasin Ford speaks to Bosun Tijani, founder of the CcHub in Lagos, about why tech hubs have been so important in driving innovation in recent years, and Ghanaian entrepreneur Charles Ofori Antipem who discusses what tech hubs can do better. The BBC's Massa Kanneh reports from Liberia on the challenges affecting tech hubs in Africa's less developed countries.

(Photo: An IT professional in a server room, Credit: Getty Images)

The scramble for Nollywood

The scramble for Nollywood

The international companies investing in Nigerian cinema. France's Canal+ and streaming giant Netflix are among those who see potential for Nollywood, both inside and outside Africa. Are they right? Presented by Tamasin Ford.

(Photo: Nollywood film DVDs on sale in Lagos, Nigeria, Credit: Getty Images)

Live long and prosper?

Live long and prosper?

The longevity industry aims to let everyone enjoy a healthy, active life well past the age of 100. But the question everyone will be asking is... will it happen in my lifetime?

Manuela Saragosa reports from the Longevity Forum conference in London, where hundreds of researchers, investors, entrepreneurs and policymakers have gathered to try and answer this question.

Among them, she speaks to billionaire investor Jim Mellon; London Business School economist Andrew Scott; the youthful venture capitalist Laura Deming; Columbia University geriatrician Linda Fried; and cryonics fan Anders Sandberg of the Future of Humanity Institute.

Producer: Laurence Knight

(Picture: Retired couple larking about on a moped; Credit: stevecoleimages/Getty Images)

Quantum computers: What are they good for?

Quantum computers: What are they good for?

Google claims to have achieved a major breakthrough with "quantum supremacy". But what could quantum computers actually do, and how soon will they be useful?

Manuela Saragosa speaks to Harvard quantum computing researcher Prineha Narang, who says that the devices she is working on are annoyingly "noisy", but could still make an important contribution to tackling climate change in the next few years.

There are fears that quantum computers could one day crack modern encryption techniques - rendering private communications and financial transactions unsafe. But IBM cryptography researcher Vadim Lyubashevsky says don't worry, they've got the problem in hand.

Plus, the BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones delineates the greatest paradox of quantum computers - that nobody can explain how they work.

Producer: Laurence Knight

(Picture: Engineer working on IBM Q System One quantum computer; Credit: Misha Friedman/Getty Images)

The ethics of AI

The ethics of AI

One of the world's top thinkers on artificial intelligence, tells us why we should be cautious but not terrified at the prospect of computers that can outsmart us.

Professor Stuart Russell of the University of California, Berkeley, tells Ed Butler where he thinks we are going wrong in setting objectives for existing artificial intelligence systems, and the risk of unintended consequences.

Plus IBM fellow and computer engineer John Cohn talks about blockchain, deep neural networks and symbolic reasoning.

(Picture: Ponderous robot; Credit: PhonlamaiPhoto/Getty Images)

The billionaires who want to pay more tax

The billionaires who want to pay more tax

Liesel Pritzker Simmons and her husband Ian Simmons are billionaires who come from successful US business families. Liesel's family is best known for founding Hyatt hotels. Both say the the US government should be collecting more tax from super-rich people like them. We asked them why. And Dr Ted Klontz, associate professor of practice and financial psychology at Creighton University in the US, explains the psychology of a billionaire.

(Photo: A gold Ferrari parked outside an expensive boutique in London, Credit: Getty Images)

Who wants to be a billionaire?

Who wants to be a billionaire?

Should the richest be taxed out of existence? Manuela Saragosa hears from Emmanuel Saez, a US-based French economist advising US presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren on a wealth tax targeting the super rich. The arguments against taxing billinaires more come from Chris Edwards, an economist at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington DC.

(Photo: Bill Gates and Warren Buffet at an event in 2017, Credit: Getty Images)

Fake me an influencer

Fake me an influencer

The murky world of fake Instagram followers, fake comments, fake likes. Edwin Lane turns to the dark side in his quest for more followers for his Instagram account, with help from Belgian artist Dries Depoorter. Evan Asano from the influencer marketing company Mediakix describes how a mass following of bots almost landed him a marketing deal, and Andrew Hogue, founder of a company called Authentique, explain how artificial intelligence is being used to spot fake influencers.

(Photo: Instagram logo. Credit: Getty Images)

Make me an influencer

Make me an influencer

How hard is it to make money on Instagram? Ed Butler hears from successful influencer Laura Strange, who makes a living from her Gluten-free food themed profile, and the BBC's Edwin Lane tries to become an influencer himself, with advice from Harry Hugo co-founder of the influencer marketing agency Goat, and Marie Mostad, influencer expert at the platform Inzpire.me.

(Photo: Instagram logo displayed on a laptop. Credit: Getty Images)

The Cambridge Analytica whistleblower

The Cambridge Analytica whistleblower

Brittany Kaiser was one of the whistleblowers who brought down her former employer, Cambridge Analytica. She helped to expose how the data analysis firm had collaborated with Facebook to profile millions of voters around the world, in order to target them with tailor-made propaganda.

In an extended interview, she tells the BBC's Jane Wakefield how our data is still open to abuse by those seeking to undermine democracy by manipulating the way we vote.

(Picture: Brittany Kaiser in Washington, DC; Credit: Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The world's youngest Nobel-winning economist

The world's youngest Nobel-winning economist

Esther Duflo discusses her work on the economics of poverty, for which she won this year's Nobel prize, along with her husband Abhijit Banerjee and co-author Michael Kremer.

The 46-year old French-American MIT economist is the youngest person ever to be awarded the prize, and only the second woman. Ed Butler asks her how she and her collaborators examined how people in poverty respond differently to economic incentives, and her views on how her profession could benefit from being less male-dominated.

(Picture: Esther Duflo; Credit: Patrick Kovarik/AFP via Getty Images)

A hydro-powered Bitcoin boom in Georgia

A hydro-powered Bitcoin boom in Georgia

How hydroelectric dams are powering cryptocurrency mining on the eastern edge of Europe. Ed Butler travels to Georgia to visit the Bitcoin mines benefiting from cheap electricity and tax benefits.

(Photo: A hydroelectric dam on the Inguri River in Georgia, Credit: Getty Images)

Shafaq Live
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